The shortage of skilled workers is affecting many sectors. The aviation industry wants to take thousands of temporary workers from Turkey to deal with a “understaffing” among ground staff. A mediator is therefore at hand, now the Federal Ministry of Labor should help.
In view of considerable staff shortages, the aviation industry wants to use 2,000 temporary workers from Turkey at German airports. Several industry associations have submitted a corresponding proposal to the Federal Ministry of Labor, which is intended to remove legal hurdles. They already have a suitable provider from Istanbul who can place “qualified German-speaking employees” and send them to Germany before the summer holidays.
The letter says: “In the field of ground handling services there is a staff shortage of 2,000 employees. We see one way of covering this personnel requirement in the short term in recruiting workers from abroad.” The workers from Turkey speak German at A2 level and also have certified dangerous goods training that meets the requirements of the airline association IATA. They also met the requirements of the German reliability checks.
The associations propose that an established German airport service provider should hire the workers and distribute them to the airports as required. The Ministry is to eliminate another problem by dispensing with the individual case assessment that is actually due to determine whether domestic applicants are not also available for these jobs. We know from many experiences that this is not the case and therefore ask for a general solution.
The initiative is supported, among others, by the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, the Airport Association ADV, the municipal employers’ associations and the Employers’ Association of Ground Handling Service Providers (ABL).
According to Verdi, employees of the ground handling services stow luggage items safely in the cargo hold and ensure that there is sufficient kerosene on board. Other tasks are passenger handling or apron services.